News & Updates

Mid-Week Reads: Merkel and Minnesotans' Income

by | Sep 15, 2016 | Other

Every week, North Star will take some time out of our schedules to bring you our favorite reads from the past week.

Jeff Van Wychen

Merkel’s Mettle

The current world leader that I admire above all others is German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Merkel has risked her political career by welcoming one million Syrian refugees to her homeland, courageously standing up for these oppressed people in the face of rising tide of Western Islamophobia. Margot Patterson argues that,

“Germany has become the indispensable country and Merkel the indispensable leader not just because of the country’s economic might but because of the moral leadership she has shown.”

Stephanie Fenner

Minnesotans’ Incomes Bouncing Back, Census Data Show

Minnesotans got some good news this week, as Census data show that Minnesotans’ incomes are finally showing signs of recovering from the Great Recession. MPR writes,

Median income for all Minnesotans increased by about $2,000 between 2014 and 2015, when it rose to an estimated $63,488. The state median household income for 2015 is almost 14 percent higher than the national rate.

However, racial disparities continue to exist in Minnesota. For example, while black household income bounced back, the median household income for whites is around $67,000, median household income for black Minnesotans is less than half that.

Digging into Danger: Broadband Installation Damage in Minnesota

In 1998, a crew installing broadband cable for high-speed internet in downtown St. Cloud struck a gas line. The resulting explosion killed four people, destroyed six buildings, and caused $400,000 in damage.[1] More than 25 years later, too little has changed. In...

Failure is Not an Option

Despite Minnesota having $12.5 billion in one time money and a structural general fund surplus of $6 billion, there is no surplus in transportation funding. This report details decades of declining revenue from dedicated funding sources of transportation...

Underfunded Minnesota: Collective Investment for a Brighter Future

The current budget surplus represents an important opportunity to improve the quality and affordability of life for Minnesotans. For decades, wages have largely stagnated, while workers and families have incurred steeply rising costs for major expenses like childcare,...

Losing Ground: State Disinvestment in Students

Our first report, “Losing Ground”, has a simple but stark finding: over the last twenty years, per pupil state aid received by Minnesota school districts declined by 20 percent, after adjusting for inflation. As state aid has fallen off, school districts have asked...

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